Well, both offenses looked good.
Let me tell you why this game was so good.
Both offenses played at a high level and the our defense when faced with adversity came through and won the game. Both sides of the ball had some ugly moments, but in the end the offense drove down the field, scored and added the two point conversion. It was left up to our defense to make a play to win the game for us.
I was encouraged because we didn’t rely on our big name defensive players to make the needed plays. In the end Matt Putnam, Andrew Rich and Colby Clawson made the plays we needed in order to pull off the win.
Like I thought Harvey had a solid day with 19 rushes for 84 yards, and Fui added to the rushing total with 72 yards on 9 carries.
Let’s all be honest UNLV is a good team. If they can get their defense to consistently play as well as they did today they will end up winning some of these close games.
In all, it was a well deserved, tough victory. I would of liked to see our offense drive the nail in the coffin after the big fourth down stop by Colby Clawson, but we sputtered and only got a field goal.
I do think our team took a half step forward today. Different guys are starting to step up and make plays and we are beginning to develop the character and identity that we will need down the stretch. What is our identity?
We are a team that can take a teams best shot and still come up with the plays necessary to win the game. I am excited to see our team win on the last play of the game. Our offense needed to go what they needed to do and our defense came up with the plays to win. No matter how hard everyone is on our defense they still made the plays in the crucial situations to win the game.
Our league is tough and it will take another good week of practice to get another road victory.
-Look for the Post Game Wrap-up after the jump and this week Staff will also be adding his thoughts to the blog with his own post game insights.
Yeah, but our defense has given up almost 70 points in the last two games (34 pts/game), as opposed to 61 points in the prior six games (10 pts/game). And UNLV was a 3-4 team coming in.
UNLV end up with more total yards, more passing yards, fewer penalties, better 3rd down conversion efficiency, and nearly equal time of possession. Our defense just couldn’t stop UNLV with any consistency.
Our victory was based more on when the clock ran out than anything else. If UNLV had had a extra minute on the clock — or even an extra 30 seconds — when they got the ball near the end of the game, they may well have scored and sent the game into overtime — and I’m not sure we could have won in overtime. For that matter, they may well have pulled off a 2-pt conversion and won it outright. ..bruce..
Re: bfwebster
“If UNLV had had a extra minute on the clock — or even an extra 30 seconds — when they got the ball near the end of the game, they may well have scored and sent the game into overtime — and I’m not sure we could have won in overtime.”
True…but the fact is that they DIDN’T have an extra minute. I agree our defense looked spotty at times, but when it really came down to it, they made some big plays to end the game.
You can always hypothesize about what would have happened IF…
My point is that we won. It was more of an offensive shootout than I would have liked, but we won. And don’t forget that although UNLV is 3-4, it has a history of pulling off big wins (Utah last year, ASU this year, just to name a few).
Overall, I thought it was a good game. I’m glad we had a little more balance between our passing and running game.
Don’t be looking for any more shutouts from our defense…I think people start expecting that every game when we pitch back-to-back shutouts. While they’ve allowed more points in the last two games than in the first six combined, I still give them props for making some big plays when it really counted.
I would venture to say that all our remaining games will come down to the wire. In my mind that is OK, we are developing the identity of a team that wins the close games. Add in the fact that our young players are starting to make more plays and we will be just fine. I like the way our team responded and I like “who they are”.
Quinn, how is it that out dline cannot get penetration into the backfield like we were able to do last year? Jan was typically making tackles in the backfield and getting after the QB. I understand that with a 3-4 defense, we are automatically outnumbered on the dline, but why do you think there is that drop off? The 3-4 did not seem to hinder the team last year. Or was it just that Jan and Ian were successful despite the disadvantage they have in playing a 3-4 defensive scheme?
“I HAVE NEVER LOST A GAME, I HAVE ONLY BEEN BEHIND WHEN THE TIME RAN OUT.”
Although we may not have stopped them if there was more time, I believe we would have found a way to win the game in over time. They could not stop us either all day, and we proved that we are not afraid to go for two and get it easily.
Also I noticed Dave Nixon getting closer and closer and closer to Clayton as the second half wore on. There is no doubt in my mind that he would have been the one to come up with a huge play in overtime to win it for the Defense.
As you will see in a later post, I agree with Quinn…we are a team that will win the close game. Thus far we have one two close games that could have/should have gone to OT because our players would rather step up late in the game and make a play than wait around for OT.
An extra minute would not have mattered because we came up with the INT on the last play therefore the possession would’ve been ours and Hall would’ve just kneeled on it to end the game anyway. Yes, our defense didn’t have their best game but they made the plays they needed to to win the game in the end. Let’s give credit where it’s due, we won the game fair and square. It was a game the team needed too after taking it on the chin last week. Call me a deluded optimist, but I see the defense improving as the season goes on.
I’m not so sure that it was a game of the defense being beat time and time again, more a game of their offense making plays time and time again. UNLV has athletic receivers that pose matchup problems for our DB’s (Quinn maybe you can say something about this- or tell me I’m wrong), and they seemed to exploit that now.
We’ve got to remember that WE are the marquee game for teams this season. So every team is going to be scheming and designing for us.
I have noted that no one has mention the two times on kick off’s that we kicked the ball out of bounds. We put UNLV on the 40 yard line and they scored both times.
I think those were big mistakes that cost us today. IF we dont kick the ball out of bounds there might be two less scores by UNLV.
The last UNLV drive would then make no difference.
Over the past few years I like the way we are winning the close games. I have been watching BYU football since the Marc Wilson days and there have been many years we didn’t win the close ones.
I am not sure this defense has any “big name” defensive players anymore. Teams have schemed away from Jorgenson and Nixon and both have been practically invisible all year.
It is going to take others stepping up to get the job done on defense the rest of the year.
If UNLV had had an extra minute or so when they got the ball at the end of the game, they could have been far more methodical when they got down into the red zone and probably would have avoided the sack and the interception and instead scored a touchdown.
Look, I’ve been watching and rooting for BYU football since 1971 (when I entered BYU as a freshman), which I suspect is before most of you were born, so I’ve got a bit of perspective. I’ve seen a lot of 11-2, 10-3 seasons (and post-season bowl losses) over the past 37 years for exactly that reason — the BYU offense, however powerful, could not score points as fast as the other team, particularly if the quarterback du jour was having an off day.
The defense was a little iffy against Washington but otherwise played outstanding the first six games of this year. They’ve been frankly pretty poor the last two games. Unless that changes, BYU will likely lose at least one more game (Utah) and quite possibly two (AFA), regardless of how many passes Max puts up. ..bruce..
I’m pleased and very optimistic. I think this is the defense we thought we would have at the start of the season. We were all a little worried. I remember asking you Quinn the day of the first game how Fowler and the DBs would be this year and your answer was “they’ll be fine”. That is exactly what they are and that is good enough to get along with. We all thought, if we’re honest, that to win this year we would need to score more than the defense gave up and we would be facing games like today. So way to be defense for stepping up and making plays when we needed them. You can bend or break as long as you don’t break at the end.
Quikandskinny! great call on this being everyones marquee game this year!!! =)
bfwebster,
You are right they they COULD have been more methodical IF there were more time on the clock. But IF there were 3 more minutes on the clock, after their methodical drive then our offense COULD have scored again.
This is a lot of conversation about a should a would could a…
TBONE…
This is what the deal is. Last year Jan was still a young pup and it wasn’t until late in the year that teams really started to respect him. Also keep in mind that last year we had Kehl and Nixon as bookends to help Jan out. With Kehl gone adn Dave being the best COVER OLB it is up to Denney, Dulan, Tialavea and Clawson to draw attention away from Jan (and Dave when he rushes the passer). So far that is not really happening. Jan will continue to be double teamed and so the other guys in the front have to win the one-on-one blocks.
What encouraged me today was that Nixon got about 5 licks on Clayton.
Clawson has come up with 3 big hits on QBs this year and one personal foul…He has yet to replace Nixon the way Nixon has replaced Kehl.
In the run game I think teams last year were worried about Poppinga flying down hill to attack the run so they were using a OL on him. This year our LBs are trying to feel their way into their fits more than just attacking the LOS. That means that all the combo blocks at the point of attack end up being double teams because the LBs are not showing up fast enough.
The reason UNLV didn’t have an extra minute to march down the field was because BYU didn’t give it to them. BYU’s last drive was methodical by design in order to make it difficult for UNLV to get to the end zone in time when they got the ball back. This was not something that happened by chance or luck.
______
Despite the high score, I liked that the defense was trying new things. The LBs were rushing the QB more and the corners played a lot closer to the line. It may have back fired a few times, but I hope Bronco sticks with it to some degree. Changes take time to be effective sometimes. I thought BYU’s LBs were about a half step away from getting the sack on about 10 plays. It was really frustrating, but give it another week or two and we could have a whole new dimension to the defense.
I wish these changes had been adopted earlier on some level. They basically saved the TCU game last season on the last drive or two.
Bruce,
I hear you on the point that the defense is giving up plenty of points, passing yardage and appears that they cannot stop any offense with consistency.
What if I told you that is EXACTLY their game plan? Our defense knows they are going to give up points, passing yardage and that teams are going to be able to move the ball against them. Shoot, last year Hill was playing with a starting defensive backfield which had no scholarship players and I’m surprised the NAACP didn’t file any lawsuits (no offense to anyone).
Their game plan – bend (to the point of all CougarNation thinking they are going to break) but don’t break, make one more play, get one needed stop.
Yesterday – mission accomplished by Matt Putnam and Andrew Rich (or Ridge if you are ESPN).
If they make that ONE MORE PLAY against Air Force and Utah, and our offense continues to improve and score points, we can win both games.
The two shutouts this year, I’m not going to say they were flukes, but they were certainly anomalies in our defensive game plan, and not part of anyone’s defensive goals.
Agree that the rest of our games will all be close – MWC has 3 teams in top 25, not bad.
Gooch…
Cmon dude, you can’t keep a straight face and say this was a good game. I know they are your boys, and all, but this defense doesn’t stop people. And this Sctick of UNLV is really really good doesn’t hold water. They are 0-4 and we were favored by 23.
The offense scored in 80% of their posessions and it almost wasn’t enough. The defense is showing no emotion and at this point it is becoming fair to say they have no heart. I mean cmon…in Texas they rolled over and did the worst thing a team can do…they QUIT.
Now the offense will have to score in 85%+ of all their posessions, and they had better be TDs, not FGs. Otherwise we will lose. This is 2001 all over again. The offensive unit has a right to be pissed.
Why are the playmakers watching from the sideline? I know you and Staff love Scotty, but he is no playmaker. Putnam and Bradley need to be in the game making plays. They are 2 playmakers that need to see the field.
While it was a win, all it did was get the other teams in the conference…the ones that get fired up to play…licking their chops.
We will need 35 to beat CSU, 30 to beat AFA, and 45 to beat Utah.
I think we can score that many against CSU and AFA, but no chance we put that many up against the red-headed stepbrothers up North.
9-3 and New Mexico bowl unless the defense does something they haven’t done all season: IMPROVE and ADJUST.
It was our offense’s best game (better than UCLA) and our defense’s worst game (worse than TCU).
UNLV isn’t terrible, but they are mediocre. CSU is a better team with perhaps a more dangerous offense. And with these Cougars, playing on the road does make a huge difference.
I’d sure like your insight on our cornerback play. It seems as though they play to “not lose” instead of “to win”. As you know, there is a huge difference in attitude between the two. I’d rather see them give up the occasional big play but otherwise play tighter defense and stop a lot more third downs.
Is there any chance that better players are sitting on the bench? It’ frustrating to see the secondary get torched all afternoon while thinking that Brandon Bradley, G Pittman, Brannon Brooks, Jordan Pendleton, and others I’m likely missing all need more playing time.
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